Predators complete perfect road trip with victory over Devils

Oct 20, 2006 - 2:33 AM
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The Nashville Predators
certainly made themselves at home on the East Coast.

Martin Erat scored the game-winning goal in the third round of
the shootout to lift the Predators to a 4-3 victory over the New
Jersey Devils and a sweep of their three-game road trip.

Erat scored the only goal of the shootout when he skated in on
goaltender Scott Clemmensen and snapped the puck high over his
glove, just inside the top corner of the net.

"It's a shootout," Erat said. "It's a 50-50 chance. I was lucky
today."

Nashville netminder Chris Mason, who recorded 30 saves,
preserved the victory when he stopped Patrik Elias.

"I felt good," Mason said of his second start this season. "At
first, it takes a little of adjustment. You can practice all
you want so when you get in a game, you just got to really try
to stay focused."

Facing a 3-1 deficit in the third period, the Devils tied the
game with two late goals. Scott Gomez sliced brought New Jersey
within 3-2 at 17:53 before Brian Gionta tied the game with 12
seconds left.

Gionta finished with two goals and an assist and Gomez also had
an assist for New Jersey, which outshot Nashville, 33-18.

"We came back again, down two goals going into the third,"
Gionta said. "Then again, it's another slow start. It's
another game playing from behind, so we can't be too satisfied.
We had some chances."

"It's tough," said Gomez, who scored his 400th career point.
"Obviously, to come back like that, it would be nice to get the
win. But the way things were looking, we were going to come out
of here without a point." Jason Arnott, Erat and Scott Nichol
scored for the Predators, who went 2-for-5 on the power play.

Clemmensen finished with 15 saves for the Devils, who went
1-for-6 with the extra skater.

The Predators, who are unbeaten in their last four games, head
home satisfied with how the road trip went.

"That's huge for us, especially the way we started the season,"
Mason said. "I don't think we ever did that in the past. The
three buildings are always tough to play in, especially Madison
Square Garden, and here. ... I think that we're definitely going
to use this for momentum."

"It's a great accomplishment," Arnott said. "We let down a
little bit at the end and that's tough. But we hung in there.
It's just another solid effort and that's what we needed."